Contents
- What do the statements that match your beliefs mean?
- “I am a disorganized person by birth”
- “The only way to do more is to work even harder”
- “I can be equally productive throughout the day”
- “Planning robs life of spontaneity”
- “In order to be as productive as possible, I need to experience deadline pressure”
- “I have to be in complete control of my time”
- “If you want a job done well, you have to do it yourself”
- “Delegation always saves time”
- “I just don’t have enough time to organize myself”
- “Lack of punctuality is a sign of disorganization or bad manners”
- About expert
Do you have so much work that you literally have no time to breathe? Surely you are misallocating time, neuropsychologist David Lewis is sure. He tells you how to properly organize your schedule.
“Time management is the key to getting the job done,” says David Lewis, a neuropsychologist and director of independent consulting firm Mindlab International. In his new book Stress Management (Alpina Publisher, 2012), he tells this story. The farmer worked to the point of exhaustion day after day, cutting down trees and building a hut, trying to finish the job before the first snow. “Sharpen your axe,” a woodcutter passing by advised him. “There is no time,” the exhausted farmer replied, panting. “I’m too busy felling trees!”
This dialogue, according to David Lewis, accurately describes the dilemma facing millions of men and women today. Recognizing that there must be more productive ways to handle grueling workloads, we can’t take the time to do anything about it. David Lewis believes that by overcoming the myths and attitudes that control us, we are able to “sharpen an ax without spending so much time on this business that it would be enough for us to be covered in snow.” And he proposes to start by evaluating your attitude to the organization of time. For this…
Check all the statements that match your beliefs:
1. “I am a disorganized person by birth.”
2. “The only way to do more is to work even harder.”
3. “I can be equally productive throughout the day.”
4. “Time planning robs life of spontaneity.”
5. “In order to be as productive as possible, I need to experience deadline pressure.”
6. “I have to be in complete control of my time.”
7. “If you want a job done well, you have to do it yourself.”
8. “Delegating your authority always saves a lot of time.”
9. “I just don’t have enough time to organize myself.”
10. “Lack of punctuality is a sign of poor preparation or bad manners.”
Count your points – each statement you marked corresponds to one point.
Results:
0. You like the idea of organizing your time more precisely.
1-3. Although in general your approach to organizing time is constructive, some character traits prevent you from realizing your ideas. Read carefully David Lewis’s comments on each of the statements that gave you a point.
4-6. Your ability to organize your time is undermined by negative ideas. Read David Lewis’s comments on each of the statements you agree with.
7-10. Your ability to organize your time is limited by erroneous prejudices. Perhaps at the moment you doubt that you are able to make your life less stressful. The techniques that David Lewis describes in his book will help you adjust your ideas and start living easier.
What do the statements that match your beliefs mean?
“I am a disorganized person by birth”
If you didn’t learn to manage time in your youth, then you most likely consider yourself a disorganized person by nature. However, the truth is that anyone at any age can learn to organize their time. To do this, you only need a willingness to make changes in your life, as well as the knowledge of where, when and how to make these changes.
“The only way to do more is to work even harder”
Some of the most diligent workers are the worst time managers. Working too hard, overtaxing, they tend to combine low productivity with mediocre work quality, while putting in long hours of work.” By confusing “busy” with “work,” they are reminiscent of the Canterbury Tales lawyer Geoffrey Chaucer, who “despite the fact that no one seemed to be busier than he was, he was not as busy as he seemed. Learn to eliminate as much “busyness” as possible from your life and replace it with work that makes the most efficient use of your time.
“I can be equally productive throughout the day”
You know from your own experience that this is impossible. Even the most productive people experience a rise and fall of energy and activity. These natural fluctuations are related to our internal clock. At certain times of the day (morning for some of us, afternoon or evening for others) we feel full of energy, ready for action, able to focus on problems and complete the task with the least amount of effort. At other times, we may feel empty, lack motivation, and find it difficult to concentrate. Schedule the things that require the maximum load for your most productive time, says the neuropsychologist. This will help reduce stress.
“Planning robs life of spontaneity”
Clearly defining your goals and priorities doesn’t necessarily mean you’ll be dragged into a boring and predictable routine. In fact, by better organizing your time, you will give yourself even more opportunities to act spontaneously. For example, on a hot summer day, you might want to go home early. But the urgent report and the need to attend the meeting will make it impossible. When we organize our own time, we are more easily succumbed to this impulse and get much more done as a result.
“In order to be as productive as possible, I need to experience deadline pressure”
Some of us put off important tasks to the last minute. This habit is caused by the need to feel the excitement again and again, which arises from the release of adrenaline in moments of high tension. As a result, we deprive ourselves of the opportunity to correct mistakes in the event that something goes wrong. While a certain amount of adrenaline usually excites, constantly elevated levels of it are dangerous to health.
“I have to be in complete control of my time”
No matter how organized a person may be, he cannot fully control his working time. There are too many time thieves waiting for us at work. This includes important but unscheduled visitors, phone calls, requests from co-workers, priorities set by superiors, meetings, travel time to meet clients, waiting for appointments, and so on. However, this does not mean that it is useless to try to control your work. You can usually curb even those thieves of time that you can’t get rid of.
“If you want a job done well, you have to do it yourself”
If you try to do everything yourself, then it will not lead to anything good. To survive in an ever-increasing time pressure, you must learn to determine when to delegate a particular task, and when to refuse it. And in the book, David Lewis talks about this in detail.
“Delegation always saves time”
This is a misconception. Delegation saves time only if you know when, how, to whom and what to delegate. If what we think of as delegation is just another name for evasion, then we will be wasting not only our time, but the time of the person who was not fortunate enough to encounter the work you have so unsuccessfully delegated.
“I just don’t have enough time to organize myself”
This belief is reminiscent of a farmer’s story told by David Lewis. The task, as you remember, is to “sharpen the ax without spending so much time on this business that would be enough for us to be covered in snow.”
“Lack of punctuality is a sign of disorganization or bad manners”
While in some countries (USA, Canada, Australia and Western Europe) most men and women are meticulous with time, in other countries this is not the case. In many ways, our behavior is determined by the characteristics of culture and upbringing. This should never be forgotten by those involved in international trade. In the Middle East, Latin America, and China, for example, a meeting scheduled for ten in the morning may not start at eleven or even at noon. Such a delay does not imply bad manners, inefficiency or disinterest, as it would be regarded in the West.
It’s just that these cultures look at time less strictly. There, time is perceived polychronically, when several things can be done almost simultaneously. For most Western countries, recalls David Lewis, on the contrary, a monochronic position is characteristic, when the priority of tasks is determined and they are solved one by one. The transition from monochronic to polychronic time can be disorienting and cause the inexperienced person to make erroneous and unflattering judgments about the effectiveness and enthusiasm of the host.
About expert
David Lewis, psychologist, journalist, lecturer. Recognized neuromarketing expert. Founder of Mindlab International.